We were going to show a Bible school module on video recorded by Roy Lytle the first week of March. But since we heard from MAF on Monday that there was a possibility on March 2 and it was uncertain when the next flight would be, we decided to fly to Paramaribo on March 2 and postpone the Bible school until after Easter.

We made the trip to the city to buy the materials needed to work on two projects in Apetina. We spoke with the leaders about the completion of the guesthouse and about the training to improve electrical installations in the houses. We tried to order everything online and have the goods delivered at MAF, who could fly it in. We tried, but it didn’t work so we needed to go shopping ourselves. There was no other option than to ask the government for permission to fly to the city. We got the permission and so we flew March 2 on a backload seat to Paramaribo.

We were happy to be able to stay with friends in their guesthouse, because that also had to be arranged quickly. This guesthouse is located next to our container where our household goods have been stored for about 9 years now. We hope to build our house on that property in the coming years, but the papers to get it transferred to our name have not yet been finalized. We hope this will be the case somewhere this year, but since we’ve been trying since 2007 … We took advantage of the fact that we were now staying next to ‘our’ plot by having a number of trucks with sand brought to bring the soil to building level, because a large portion remains under water in the rainy season.

Marco had a good workout a few mornings to spread all the sand. Now the sand can settle nicely in the coming rain season. Furthermore, we have been shopping every day. After shopping all purchases had to be properly packed in boxes, with plastic garbage bags around it again, because upon arrival at the Apetina airstrip we would bring everything down to the canoe and then up from the shore of the river to our house. Fortunately, we didn’t have to carry those 300+ kilos alone, but we were assisted by the people who picked us up.

Marco first called a lot of businesses who sold construction and electricity materials, so that we would not need to visit a number of shops in vain. We are grateful that we were able to purchase a lot of materials in these past few weeks. Almost everything for the electricity training came with us on the plane, the heavy rolls of cable will arrive later by canoe. The packs of cement, barrels of gasoline, gutters, drainage pipes and more are also taken up the river by boat. A crew from Apetina will need to make the trip twice after the Easter conference.  

Friday, March 19, we flew with a full plane to Apetina. We’re glad to be here again. During the time we were in town, our neighbor Debbie has been very ill. She has suffered from high blood pressure and diabetes for years. Her stomach no longer tolerates the cassava bread very well, so we share our rice and vegetables with her. Hopefully she will feel a little better in the near future.